Sister Kenny (1946)

Rosalind Russell first received the Academy recognition via Best Actress nomination for the comedy My Sister Eileen (1942), then a second nod for the biopicture Sister Kenny (1946), in which she plays the Australian nurse who devoted her life to getting the medical profession’s approval of her unorthodox method of treating infantile paralysis.

The solemn but engrossing and inspirational movie was directed by Dudley Nichols, better known as a screenwriter, who adapted to the screen with Mary McCarthy Mary Kenny’s memoir, “And They Shall Walk.”

The nominees for the Best Actress in 1946 were: Olivia de Havilland (who won) for “To Each His Own,” Celia Johnson for “Brief Encounter,” Jennifer jones for the Western “Duel in the Sun,” and Jane Wyman for “The Yearling.”